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If Everyone's Talking about Mad Men, Why Is No One Talking about Mad Men?
The Manzos Are Not Real Criminals of New Jersey

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VoxPopuli
08/14/09

In reply to If Everyone's Talking about Mad Men, Why Is No One Talking about Mad Men?
I don't have cable and hardly ever watch TV, but earlier today I signed up for the Mad Men season pass on iTunes because I found that last season I ended up downloading every episode immediately after they aired rather than attempt to wait for the DVD. The show is really that good.
The fewer spoilers to dodge while I wait for my downloads, the better, I say.
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Edited by VoxPopuli at 08/14/09 4:41 PM VoxPopuli was starred VoxPopuli was unstarred

bongenre
08/14/09

In reply to If Everyone's Talking about Mad Men, Why Is No One Talking about Mad Men?
Nobody talks about the actual content of the show because, although what IS there is perfectly styled and eloquently written, the show is as slow as molasses and decidedly un-sensational. Amusement from situations that were shocking at the time that are not shocking now (white couple adoption! shocker!!) do not make for plot drama.
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DahlELama
08/14/09

@bongenre: That's one way of looking at it; another is to realize that it's not taking place now and to appreciate in the context of the early 60s how revolutionary and/or shocking many of those concepts were. The point of watching events like that unfold in a show that is beautifully styled is to help pull you out of the current era and suck you into the time and place when things like interracial dating were incredibly shocking, and the more you watch, the more you understand how groundbreaking some of their actions were at the time.
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VoxPopuli promoted this comment DahlELama was starred DahlELama was unstarred

VoxPopuli
08/14/09

@DahlELama: I don't understand the new Gawker system. Dahl, you have a star but yet your comments were in gray and had the little green thumb to approve next to the star. So, I approve you, I guess.

Anyway, I agree with you. The compare it to today is to miss the point of a period piece.
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DahlELama
08/14/09

@VoxPopuli: Thanks, Babe. It's my own fault; I responded to the comment before approving it, and when you respond to an unapproved comment, your response is always in gray, but apparently, when I then approved the comment, it also promoted it, I guess because a star commenter had responded. Little by little, I think I'm starting to understand how it all works. Still can't bring myself to promote my own comments though!

With regard to period pieces, I would have made a comparison to Revolutionary Road, since my impression is that they have similar appeal despite possessing storylines that would not be considered shocking these days, but I haven't actually seen the movie.
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Atilla the Bun
08/14/09

@bongenre: People talk about the content of the actual show plenty and it has plot drama for days. For fuck's sake (no pun intended)--the Peggy and Pete plot is straight out of As the World Turns but also totally plausible for that day and age. But show-runner Matt Weiner keeps an iron-clad grip on the release of any plot points for unaired episodes, so it's not exactly easy to go into a plot-based discussion of the upcoming season.
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snugbug promoted this comment Atilla the Bun was starred Atilla the Bun was unstarred

Occula
08/14/09

@DahlELama: It's not similar to 'Revolutionary Road' the movie. It's based on 'Revolutionary Road' the book, which is terrific and was an influence on Weiner long before it was turned into a film. And yes, similarly, both works have not-overly-shocking plot lines if judged by today's standards. But who are we kidding? I watch 'The Wire' for the plot (and for Omar). I watch 'Mad Men' to see what kind of purple dress Joan has poured herself into, what kind of lowball glasses are being used in a client meeting and to see what kind of sass Peggy's going to give everybody next!
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Atilla the Bun
08/14/09

@Occula: It's actually not based on Revolutionary Road, the book or movie. Weiner says on the DVD commentary that he had not read RR until well after he had written the Mad Men pilot and that if he had read the book first, he probably would have balked at doing the Mad Men idea because they were so similar. It might have influenced his work on the show post-pilot, since there was a considerable amount of time between when he wrote the pilot and a network picking up the pilot/Weiner writing subsequent episodes.

And I am now the Cliff Claven of Mad Men trivia....
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snugbug promoted this comment Edited by Atilla the Bun at 08/14/09 6:35 PM Atilla the Bun was starred Atilla the Bun was unstarred

Matt Cherette
08/14/09

In reply to If Everyone's Talking about Mad Men, Why Is No One Talking about Mad Men?
Rachel Sklar's incessant twittering about Mad Men actually makes me want to watch the show less.
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RachelSklar
08/14/09

@mattchew03: Oh come now, I twittered about Damon Weaver getting together with Sahsa Obama, and about Spencer making Heidi feel like a woman. And how ludicrous the Time Traveler's Wife sounds. Eh, I don't even WATCH Mad Men.
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Matt Cherette
08/14/09

@RachelSklar: Ok, ok, the Speidi tweet does partially make up for it (hadn't seen that one yet, must have been time traveling when you wrote it). But what's your excuse for not following me back, besides the fact that you have no idea who I am?
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Cheap Shot
08/14/09

In reply to If Everyone's Talking about Mad Men, Why Is No One Talking about Mad Men?
I just watched the second season and the show has definitely grown on me.

I really wonder what this show would have been like if HBO were smart enough to buy it back then.
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DahlELama
08/14/09

@Cheap Shot: I'm guessing the same, with a glimpse of Christina Hendricks' boobs every now and again and enough use of the word "fuck" to put Entourage to shame.
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Lymed
08/14/09

In reply to If Everyone's Talking about Mad Men, Why Is No One Talking about Mad Men?
Season 3 is set in 1963? So they are no longer skipping a year between seasons?
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willwriteforfood
08/14/09

@Lymed: Season 3 starts eight or nine months after the end of Season 2, I think. Betty's still pregnant and JFK hadn't been assassinated yet.
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Spirit Fingers
08/14/09

In reply to If Everyone's Talking about Mad Men, Why Is No One Talking about Mad Men?

I'd just like to know who told Banana Republic they could sell Don Draper suits? As a woman I don't plan on wearing any, but as a consumer I'm offended that they believe I'm so manipulateable. This is like when Project Runway was designing clothes for this Banana Republic, the upscale Old Navy. They really should know that it's less about skinny ties and white pocket squares, and more about dropping trou at the sight of one Jon Hamm. Seth Rogen in a Don Draper suit will no more get him laid, then make Hamm overused in Apatow movies. *But we'd like to see him try. Because we’d like to see Jon Hamm. All the time. Today, in fact. My bedroom will suffice.
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Edited by Spirit Fingers at 08/14/09 3:11 PM Spirit Fingers was starred Spirit Fingers was unstarred

DahlELama
08/14/09

@Spirit Fingers: Ya know, they may not make every man look like Jon Hamm, but I appreciate the effort. If it helps even 5% of the male population physically resemble Don Draper, they've done an immeasurable service to the world.
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aLostLady
08/14/09

@DahlELama: Completely agree.

@Spirit Fingers: I admire your resistance to Mad Men manipulation tactics because I can't help but embrace them and pant for more. Next wedding we're invited to, my bf is going as Don Draper. Opens up all kinds of role-playing ideas...
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Edited by aLostLady at 08/14/09 5:10 PM aLostLady was starred aLostLady was unstarred

ohgee
08/14/09

In reply to If Everyone's Talking about Mad Men, Why Is No One Talking about Mad Men?
Is there anywhere I can find season 1 of Mad Men? I tried watching a couple episodes from season 2, but if I don't start at the beginning I lose interest.
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Lymed promoted this comment ohgee was starred ohgee was unstarred

Lymed
08/14/09

@ohgee: On DVD?
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blix
08/14/09

@ohgee: The store I bought season two (DVD) was out of season one. I started watching a couple episodes but was lost. Fortunately I found a friend with season one and will be up to speed by Sunday night.
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DahlELama
08/14/09

@ohgee: It's 20 bucks on DVD at bn.com.
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Edited by DahlELama at 08/14/09 3:53 PM DahlELama was starred DahlELama was unstarred

VoxPopuli
08/14/09

@ohgee: I watched it on Netflix. You can also get it on iTunes for $20 or $35 for the HD version.
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ClockOnTheStove
08/14/09

In reply to If Everyone's Talking about Mad Men, Why Is No One Talking about Mad Men?
SPOILER: The president is assassinated BY PEGGY OLSON!!!!!!
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Callipegian
08/14/09

In reply to If Everyone's Talking about Mad Men, Why Is No One Talking about Mad Men?
I'm sorry, what were you saying? I was drooling over that gray sheath dress with the asymmetrical neckline and the GOLD SATIN SHOES *faints*
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Nic Fit
08/14/09

In reply to If Everyone's Talking about Mad Men, Why Is No One Talking about Mad Men?
Slate is basically a Mad Men fan site at this point. It's like, okay, they get to party at the office. Get over it.
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nozer
08/14/09

@Nic Fit: Oh no! The backlash begins! First they came for the overhyped, sexy men and women from the early 60s, and I didn't speak up...

(full disclosure: I've never gotten the appeal of Mad Men, but I've also never seen it. The only TV shows I follow are Big Love and 30 Rock.)
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Lymed promoted this comment Edited by nozer at 08/14/09 3:01 PM nozer was starred nozer was unstarred

Lymed
08/14/09

@nozer: The appeal is in watching it. It's not the idea of Mad Men that is so great, it is the writing, the directing, the acting, and the production that have merged into an incredible work of art.
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nozer
08/14/09

@Lymed: Well, I suppose I will have to borrow the DVDs and give it the old college try. Unfortunately, I have a problem with not being able to like something if my mind is set against it, unless it really is incredible. So hopefully you speak the truth.

From all that I have read and seen, I've imagined it to be something like what @TillieHarper described.
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Atilla the Bun
08/14/09

@nozer: The word "layered" really describes the show well. Subtext upon subtext. After watching both seasons on tv, I listed to Matt Weiner's commentary for several episodes on the DVDs and was blown away by the thought that goes into the writing of the show.
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The Curse of Millhaven promoted this comment Atilla the Bun was starred Atilla the Bun was unstarred

Lymed
08/14/09

@nozer: If nothing else, the cinematography is worth watching. It does a great job of visually pulling focus onto one character, who often is not the center of the scene, but is somebody observing the scene. And the misogyny is not thrown in, it is placed to make a comment about the society we are watching.
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Edited by Lymed at 08/14/09 4:04 PM Lymed was starred Lymed was unstarred

ArtfulSlinger
05/26/09

In reply to The Manzos Are Not Real Criminals of New Jersey
Dead, naked middle aged dude in the car could only be one of two things - mob hit or "organized crime correction"... or maybe he was cruising for something unexpected? Rarely do random thugs, who are targeting people to steal their money or car, take the time to strip a man, bound him and then gag him and stick him in the trunk of the car, but who knows.
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Smitros
05/26/09

In reply to The Manzos Are Not Real Criminals of New Jersey
Richard, you are invited to avoid any place named a "social club" or "pork store".
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El Matardillo
05/26/09

In reply to The Manzos Are Not Real Criminals of New Jersey
Just when I try to leave Gawker forever, they pull me back in.
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intime
05/26/09

In reply to The Manzos Are Not Real Criminals of New Jersey
I dunno about New Joisey, but in Cleveland no one is found bound, naked, and shot four times in the trunk of Lincoln Continental unless they had somethin' to do with the Mob. I'm tellin' ya - theys is the only ones that drives Lincoln Continentals.
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BookishLookish
05/26/09

@intime: You should just be glad there are some Italians in Ohio so you don't have to eat egg noodles with ketchup.
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bboston88
05/26/09

@intime: How could anyone named "Tiny" not be involved with the mafia. I mean, really people, Tiny??
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Smitros
05/26/09

@bboston88 (star please?):

He could have been just a heavy-set security guard.
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Kid Twist
05/26/09

In reply to The Manzos Are Not Real Criminals of New Jersey
In five years, the Manzo family will be completely legitimate.
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